In a world so cold
by The awesome aog
Summary: There's is a hateful game of cat and mouse. But this time a word tips something off and questions arise. HaruTaka. KonoEne. KuroEne. Multichap.
1. Chapter 1

_In a world so cold_

* * *

I didn't have enough strength to cry. You know that point in the most unlucky people's lives where they can't move forward or back ward and everything they had, worthless as it might have been, was gone? That was this. There wasn't any point anymore, simply put.

Exhausted, I pull my knees up to my head and curled into myself, remembering everything that happened and how it was all in vain. The Mekakushi Dan, Shintaro, Ayano…

 _Haruka…._

They were all gone, dead and _gone._

I shudder.

It was at this point, _He_ comes in, "Still crying, are you?"

I glare up at the man- no monster, who had stolen my everything. My eyes are red and puffy, my body, aching, but I won't give him the satisfaction of weakness. "Go to hell," I growl at him weakly.

A sickly, sadistic grin curls on his lips like a snake and I resist the strong urge to shudder again, "That's not very nice, _Takane-san."_

He hits a blow below the belt. I don't show the effect his words have on me, instead I sneer at him, "I'm not a generally nice person. You know that better than anyone, _Haruka._ " Though he is not Haruka. Haruka; my Haruka is gone. My Haruka is not Kuroha.

He reel back, the smile falls from his face and he hisses, "Don't call me that, you little…"

"Call you what, _Haruka?"_ I ask, putting as much emphasis as I can on the last word.

" _Shut up,"_ His outrage is obvious, I'm playing with fire now but I don't mind. I have nothing to lose.

"Or _what?_ "

"Or I'll kill you."

"Then do it," I challenge boldly, "you've killed everyone else, why not me?"

 _Why not me?_ The question has plagued my mind since he cut the rest of them down. He didn't do anything to me except make sure I couldn't escape. But _why?_ So I could live the rest of my life in torment? Well, he succeeded. Living here, in this closet, with only my haunted memories, thoughts and occasionally him to keep me company, I would much rather die.

He says nothing. His expression is unreadable.

"Well?" I prod.

"I can make your life a living hell," he says quietly. We both know this. I put up my guard as a result of his unusual behavior.

"You can." I agree.

"But I _don't."_ he finishes simply and leaves without another word. I sit there, bewildered, my mind running over our conversation, trying to look for something. There is an image that won't leave me alone. In that split second he almost looked like….

* * *

 _A/N: Hello all! Long time no see!_

 _So I thought about Haruka and Takane's relationship and then Ene and Konoha's and then Ene and Kuroha's._

 _All are essentially the same person and maybe, just maybe a little bit Haruka is there, hidden under all the madness that is Kuroha?_

 _A little headcanon I created; Kuroha is the manifestation of Haruka's anger. Let's be honest, Haruka is a nice person, maybe too nice, especially considering his illness; he should have a little anger at the world. But he hides it. Deep, deep inside. While Kuroha is the opposite, anger outside, niceness inside._

 _So yeah, that's it._

 _I know this is short, maybe I can continue and make this into a prologue. I really like this beginning and think it has a bit of potential for a multichap. Well, we'll see. ^.^_

 _Tell me what you think!_


	2. Chapter 2

_You wake up. You blink, trying to adjust your eyes to the light. It's bright; too bright. Blinding whiteness that won't let you see. You close your eyes again and when they open, your sight returns._

 _It's a room; an ordinary, comely one, with simple, pleasant furniture. There's a shelf in one corner, a picture of a (red?) crane on a far wall, a window with curtains that fly from the wind and a table. You sit at the table._

 _But that's all irrelevant because you're not alone._

 _Ayano._

 _Shintaro._

 ** _Haruka._**

 _And, oddly enough you don't jump at them, you don't rush to tell them about Kuroha, you don't tell Haruka your feelings, you don't comfort Ayano, you don't tease Shintaro._

 _No, you smile sweetly at all of them in turn and, for some reason, that smile erupts into a giggle, that turns into a chuckle, that forms a laugh._

 _And the other three join you._

 _It's happy and pleasant and too warm and the light streaming in from window is too bright, don't you think? It's too loud and yet too subtle and just the right amount of ethereal, all at once._

 _At some point, your laugh turns bitter, cynical even. You laugh and laugh and laugh and, at some point, the others have stopped laughing. You laugh and laugh and, at some point, your laughter has turned into tears._

 _And then you cry._

 _And then you wake up._

* * *

There's still tears in my eyes when they open for real. I gasp, trying to catch my breath, choking on air.

After my breathing has returned to normal, I turn listless. Tired and desperate, I let my head fall defeated against the hard wall. My cheeks are still wet.

The dreams- more like nightmares- have happened every single time I sleep. They're as bad as my memories- often _worse._

But I'm unable to do anything.

People say that dreams are the collective thoughts of one's unconscious. My thoughts _only_ revolve around these three, my situation and the unfairness of it all and, even if I could change my mindset, I wouldn't.

They don't deserve to be forgotten.

And, anyhow, I hope that, if I keep thinking about it, I might an escape. A way to end this. Maybe one where the others come back to life.

I'm glad that I woke when I did because, not a few minutes later, Kuroha walks in. My chest fills with hate at the sight of him.

"Go away," I say bluntly, glaring at him.

"You're looking well," he comments, surveying my state with a morbid grin.

I huff and look the other way, not willing to get sucked into another conversation with him.

"What?" he asks, his tone mocking, "Missing your little friends again? Another Nightmare?"

I flinch because he's right. I still don't look at him.

Noticing my reaction, he goes on, continuing in a normal tone, "There's no point you know. The dead are dead."

I still don't look at him.

"Personally, I don't think they deserve it," he says causally, like commenting on the weather, "Ayano was too peppy and far too foolish. Shintaro…well let's just say he got his wish, we both know how that coward felt about life. As for Haruka-"

"Shut up," I seethe, "you have no right to talk about them right that."

His grin turns sadistic again, "Don't I though? I was there when they died after all."

"You don't," I tell him firmly.

I remember our odd conversation yesterday and get the sudden urge to ask him , "Why did you keep me alive?"

His reply is quick and practiced, "On a whim."

"On a whim?" I repeat.

"Why else?" and his mocking tone is back but, for some reason doesn't retain the venom from before.

I shrug nonchalantly but it'd be a lie to say I didn't hope. For what exactly? I, myself, had no idea.

He sighs and looks almost… tired. If he was anyone else, I would have felt sorry. As it was however….

"Leave." I say, turning away again.

"Fine," he says with finality and I couldn't see the expression on his face. Two seconds later and I hear the door close and the lock being locked.

And I am alone again and the silence is loud. I huddle into myself and sigh, because there is simply nothing else I can do.

* * *

 _A/N: Whew~  
_

 _This really didn't take as long as my other stories, on the other hand, this fic is way shorter than I would've liked._

 _Maybe I'm too excited? ^^_

The Tambourine Man : Firstly, thank you for reviewing! Though I have to say it puzzled me a bit. When you said that I "established that Kuroha wasn't Haruka", did you mean my first chapter? I wrote that because that was what Takane/ Ene's mindset was. I'm sure we've all realized the girl has a little problem with denial, whether it be her own feelings or simple facts. I applied that here. At the same time, up till now, Kuroha has shown little to no likeness to Haruka (yet.) so, of course she'd treat them as different people.

Or so that was my intention. This is my first time writing first-person or Harutaka for that matter so please bear with me and point out any mistakes you can find.

R&R! And I'm open to criticism too! ^^


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